Balotelli exchanged shirts with the Portuguese defender as they approached the tunnel on the way to the dressing rooms, moments after the half-time whistle.

Rodgers said: "It's not something I stand for. If you want to do that, for me you do that at the end of the game.

"It's something I'll deal with on Thursday."

Balotelli did not reappear for the second half, although Rodgers said that was "purely tactical" and he was unaware of Balotelli swapping shirts until after the match.

The Liverpool manager added: "We had an incident last year here with a player (when Mamadou Sakho swapped shirts with Samuel Eto'o in December), which I dealt with, and if that's the case then I'll deal with this as well."

As for withdrawing Balotelli at the interval, Rodgers made it plain that he felt the controversial Italian was underperforming.

"(It was) purely tactical. I felt that we needed a bit more intensity and someone to create through the middle and occupy their centre-halves a wee bit more," he said.

"Adam Lallana came on and did very, very well. Young Raheem Sterling played up there, which was difficult for him but I thought he kept working and kept trying and it's not a natural position for him."